Hey, Mama! Planner, from The Old Schoolhouse® {Homeschool Crew Review}

June 06, 2019

Hey, Mama! Planner, from The Old Schoolhouse® {Homeschool Crew Review}

It's that time of year again, for homeschool families: time to begin planning for next school year. For those who prefer paper planners rather than online/electronic planners, you will definitely want to check out the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year, from The Old Schoolhouse®.

What we received

The Hey, Mama! planner is 8 1/2 x 11, spiral bound, approximately 190 pages, with laminated covers. The author is veteran homeschool mom and publisher of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, Gena Suarez. Gena has included devotionals throughout this planner, from her mama heart to yours.

Some of the forms included are: academic transcript (and instructions for creating the transcript); checklist and skills learned; calendars for 2019, 2020, and 2021; monthly calendars; weekly planners, with space for lessons for 5 children; as well as forms for 5 children, which include curriculum planning, attendance, books read for the year, yearly goals and semester goals, and blank lined pages for miscellaneous notes.

How we used it

The first thing I did when I received my planner in the mail was go through the monthly calendars and fill in family birthdays, anniversaries, and various holidays. That's what I do with calendars!

One thing I did notice as I was going through and filling in the dates is that the numbering is a little wonky in the month of November. It's an easy fix, with WhiteOut, though.

There is one thing I will do differently with this planner, because I have only one student now...and he's in his high school years, is on the curriculum planning pages I will use one year of high school for each of the "one child" pages:

I filled in the Curriculum Planning page for what we used for his ninth grade year, for the year just ended.

Then when I figure out what we plan to use for tenth grade, eleventh grade, and twelfth grade, I will fill in those pages as well. For some reason, I am finding it much more challenging figuring out what to use with SJ than with any of my other kids, due mainly to SJ's learning challenges. I know I want to take him down more of a vocational training path than academic trail; I just don't know how to go about it, nor how to find resources, etc.

I won't go back and fill in the attendance form for last year, but I might fill in the books read. Same with the yearly and semester goals for his ninth grade year.

If we come up with some definite goals for grades 10 through 12, I'll fill in those pages as well.

Now, I might even do some tweaking with the lesson plan pages, as well, so I can use them for his remaining high school years, too. Instead of "child 1," "child 2," etc., I may put his school year/grade level. I'm still cogitating on that one.

What we thought of it

I find it well laid out, useful, and I look forward to reading the devotionals as we come to them. I like the covers; very colorful and pleasant to look at. I like the sturdy binding (it's wire spiral bound, rather than plastic spiral, like some calendar/planners). I like the books lists. <grin>

The Hey, Mama! planner is so popular, they've already sold over 98% of their stock, with no plans to print more this year. If you are interested, hurry and order yours today!

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I am 1 of 82 Crew members who reviewed the planner. To read the rest of the reviews, simply click the banner below.